instructor: amy c. kimme hea

office hours: tues. 1:30-3:00 & by appointment on tues. through thurs.

office location: heavilon 303e

course description required materialscourse policies required assignments grading web resources

course description

This technical writing course will help you learn effective strategies for communicating with other people about and with technology, particularly in networked workplaces. As part of your development as a professional, you will learn to:

Become a better professional communicator through contextual research and analysis.

Collaborate with your colleagues in project teams.

Analyze writing situations and respond to them through writing.

Use the computer as a versatile writing technology.

Design visually effective pages and screens.

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required materials

A fundamental assumption of this course is that an increasing amount of workplace writing will take place online--not merely as documents word processed then printed out, but in email, realtime remote discussion, and other forms. In order to help you learn to communicate online more effectively, much of your work in this course will take place in virtual spaces.

The syllabus, schedule, and project materials will be made available to you through this course website.

Our class will meeting in not only a computer lab but also a virtual space called "ProNoun":

http://linnell.english.purdue.edu:7000

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course policies

 
technology requirements

In order to participate fully in the course, you should be able to use the technology platform and applications listed below.

Mac OS System

Microsoft Office--particularly Word and PowerPoint

Netscape Communicator

ProNoun MOO client

Netscape Messenger which allows you to send and receive email attachments during class

technology responsibilities

Because the exchange of information and materials in this class will be almost entirely electronic, familiarity with certain technologies is crucial for participation and success in the course. If you need any assistance now or at any point during the semester, please do not hesitate to ask. I also have provided electronic documentation to help facilitate your use of classroom technologies. Thus, you should be able to attend to the responsibilities in the list below.

Have access to your Career Account

Set up your @purdue.edu email address.

Become proficient sending and receiving email attachments via Netscape Messenger.

Check the course calendar before the beginning of each class.

Become proficient participating in the class MOO space--ProNoun.

Become more proficient with unfamiliar computer technologies and applications.

Maintain back-up copies of all assignments via your home directory, disks, and/or email attachments to yourself.

collaborative work

Collaborative work is a required component of our technical writing course. In fact, a majority of your work in the course will be co-authored assignments. You and your team members are responsible for updating one another and me about assignment development and progress. In addition, you also are responsible for negotiating together all aspects of your work including planning, drafting, revising, file managing, and scheduling of assignments.


attendance & punctuality

Attendance is required at all scheduled electronic and face-to-face (F2F) meetings. Since you will working in project teams, you also will be required to attend any scheduled out-of-class meetings with your team to complete course assignments.

Three absences may result in your final grade being lowered by as much as a letter grade. More than three absences can result in a failing grade for the course. Please note that no distinction is made in this course between excused or unexcused absences.

Being excessively or regularly late for class or team meetings, both electronic and F2F, can also be counted as an absence.


late work

The majority of missed class assignments cannot be "made up." If a serious and unavoidable problem arises, however, you should contact me prior to the deadline to determine whether or not an extension for the work will or will not be granted.

 

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required assignments

You will complete 3 major projects for this course as well as a number of homework assignments, workshops, and other activities.

The 3 larger projects are as follows:

Project 1: Documentation Project (Collaborative)

Project 2: Analyzing Professional Contexts Project (Individual)

Project 3: Client Web Project (Collaborative)

You must complete all the larger projects to pass the course.

For each project you must submit multiple components of your work (including preliminary assignments, research notes, drafts, etc.). Since one of the principle grading criteria is production (See Production section below.), I need to see your writing process and not just its outcome. For each project, I will provide a document stating the project's components.

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grading

grading breakdown

Each of the 3 major projects in the course will be comprised of several components, each of which will be worth a percentage of your final grade.

Project 1: Documentation Project 20%

Project 2: Analyzing Professional Contexts Project 30%

Project 3: Client Web Project 30%

Participation: Class Work, Homework, & Attendance 20%

All assignments will be graded on the standard letter-grade scale:

A=100-90

B=89-80

C=79-70

D=69-60

F=59 or below

grading criteria

Specific criteria for each larger assignment will vary depending on its required components. The three general criteria below, however, will remain consistent.

PURPOSE: How effective is the document? Does it

accomplish its intended task?

meet its goals and the demands of its context (both academic and organizational)?

solve a problem or address a significant organizational need or help people?

provide a sound argument in support of its claims?

meet readers' needs?

improve relations between people?

provide relevant, useful, and accurate information?

PRODUCT: How well constructed is the document? Does it:

demonstrate orderly and coherent presentation of material?

display effective design and formatting?

use visuals effectively?

present professional tone and style?

demonstrate careful proofreading and editing?

PRODUCTION: How effectively was the document produced? Does it:

exhibit a considered writing process?

reveal quality of planning, collaboration, research & invention, drafting, editing, proofreading?

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web resources

ViEW project home page

http://addison.english.purdue.edu/ViEW/


Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)

http://owl.english.purdue.edu

For help with editing, grammar, and basic writing skills, the Purdue OWL offers online help as well as face-to-face, drop-in tutorial help in Heavilon Hall 224.


ViEW documentation web site

http://addison.english.purdue.edu/ViEW/doc/welcome.html

For help with learning technology applications like Netscape Mail, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.


Computers & Composition documentation web site

http://addison.english.purdue.edu/candc/compdoc.htm

For help with learning technology such as Account Summary Application, Netscape Mail, HTML, etc.


PUCC information

http://labinfo.cc.purdue.edu/

For information about open labs on the Purdue campus. If you need personal help with your Purdue career account--e.g., you lose your password, your password doesn't work--then you can get help in Math 231.


professional writing web site

http://addison.english.purdue.edu/pw

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page last updated: 1.3.00

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